As noted above there have been various attempts to produce a less labor intensive yet desirably decorative trim piece for vehicles. Such attempts can be seen in the prior art, such as in Hearn, U.S. Pat. No. 3,811,989, which discloses a decorative trim strip comprising a substrate having a metal or metallized strip bonded thereto and a layer of clear plastic material covering the metal or metallized strip. Similarly, Giannakidis, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,351,864, discloses a molding having a glazed structure where a bright film is metallized on both sides and then encapsulated in an ionomer resin material. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,446,179, Waugh discloses a trim strip having a decorative surface formed in a longitudinal channel of a molding. An impact resistant plastic overlay is then laid over the decorative surface.
In a more recent improvement described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,877,657, Yaver teaches the production of a flexible trim strip which includes a transparent or translucent core having a bottom surface covered with a opaque layer and a top surface having a thin covering of a metal. A transparent plastic overlay is then applied over the top covering of the metal.
Unfortunately, nothing in the prior art permits the production of a trim material having a mirror finish image of varying shapes thereon where the image is sufficiently protected from the weather.